Sep. 23, 2013

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Ryan Taylor didn’t think. He reacted. If Andrew Quarless was in the same situation, he probably would’ve done the same thing as his fellow Green Bay Packers' tight end.

The incident in question occurred in the third quarter of the Packers’ 34-30 loss to Cincinnati on Sunday began when Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict first shoved Taylor on a Mason Crosby extra point.

After the kick, he proceeded to execute the type of undetected low blow you’d typically see behind a referee’s back in professional wrestling, which caused Taylor to shove back and immediately drew a flag from an official standing inches away from the incident.

Whatever Burfict’s motivation, Taylor bit. Taylor said Packers coach Mike McCarthy had some choice language after he drew the 15-yard penalty on Sunday, but seemed to be more understanding when the two crossed paths on Monday.

“What happened has no place in football, but it happened,” Taylor said. “I don’t blame the ref at all for throwing the flag. What was done to me is a little bit harder to see and the retaliation is obviously something that can’t happen. Obviously, usually the second guy gets caught and that’s what happened.”

The low blow, which occurred on Mason Crosby’s point-after attempt that gave the Packers a 30-14 lead, was a more passive version of Ndaughkong Suh foot-stomping Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith in 2011, but still every bit as premeditated.

Quarless didn’t see the hit happen in real time, but he and some of his teammates began to notice Burfict antagonizing players and then flopping when touched.

“It was a low blow at that, a cheap shot and a low blow. That’s tough - You have to protect yourself,” Quarless said. “And then, I feel like he was flopping. I think another guy might have touched him and he was flopping all over the place. That might have been at a point where we were winning and he was trying to get the edge on us but they’re always going to see that second, third (incident) than the initial push. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it usually goes.”

Along with his unnecessary roughness hit on James Jones in the second quarter, Burfict’s actions likely will cost him some money in NFL fines this week, but Taylor wasn’t interested in guessing what it might be.

Coincidentally, it covered up what otherwise was career day for Taylor, who had his first multi-catch game on 34 offensive snaps with fullback John Kuhn out with a hamstring injury and tight end Jermichael Finley exiting in the first quarter with a concussion.

“I’m not going to get all caught up in it. I have no ill will,” Taylor said. “I know a lot of guys sometimes get really caught up in the games. It was obviously a very physical game, especially on the field goals. I thought both teams on both sides were very physical on the field goal. There were obviously a lot of scrums and pushing on our field goals and their field goals. It happens like that sometimes. What happened, happened.”